Early word on 'Oppenheimer' is that it's horrifying
Few things are more terrifying than nuclear war, and it’s looking like Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” film captures that terror.
“Oppenheimer” has been shaping up to be one of the summer’s largest blockbusters (although it will have stiff competition on opening weekend from Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie”). The biopic about J. Robert Oppenheimer, one of the primary scientists behind the creation of the atomic bomb, was filmed partially in Berkeley, where Oppenheimer taught as a professor. In a lesser-known local connection, Oppenheimer also founded San Francisco children’s museum the Exploratorium.
Wednesday, Variety reported that early reactions to the film have been visceral, to say the least. The accounts come from Nolan himself, so they should be taken with a grain of salt, but he noted that those who’ve seen the film have had intense emotional reactions. One of Nolan’s fellow filmmakers, who was not named in the story, said, “It’s kind of a horror movie.”
Universal Pictures
“Some people leave the movie absolutely devastated,” Nolan said to Variety. “They can’t speak. I mean, there’s an element of fear that’s there in the history and there in the underpinnings. But the love of the characters, the love of the relationships, is as strong as I’ve ever done.”
Oppenheimer biographer Kai Bird, whose 2005 book served as the source material for the film, echoed Nolan’s sentiments in an interview with the Institute for Advanced Study. “I am, at the moment, stunned and emotionally recovering from having seen it.”
The film is set to be released July 21, and given that it was filmed specifically for IMAX, audiences would do well to view it on the biggest screen possible. Tickets are available for IMAX showings at AMC Bay Street 16 in Emeryville, Veranda Luxe in Concord, AMC Dine-In Sunnyvale 12, Cinemark Century Daly City 20, and AMC Santa Clara. No San Francisco IMAX screenings have been announced yet, presumably because “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning,” which opens the week before, will be battling for IMAX placement.
Read more about the film here.
Source: SFGATE
